braking score

[clummus]

Ok...if.my brake score is low, am I braking too fast, too hard, or what?..please forgive me if this has been answered before.

[jeff_h]

Braking too late and too hard... take a drive around your neighborhood or somewhere that you can sample this where nobody will be behind you. Numbers below are just approximate.

 

1) See stop sign up ahead going about 30 mph, drive you most people drive and wait until 30 yards before the sign and hit the brakes, get a score of about 70, which should show on your left side once you complete the stop.

 

2) Go back around the same route and do the same thing but let of the gas at twice the distance and lightly ride the regen brakes (normal brake pedal, but very lightly) and gently slow down nice and smoothly to stop right at the sign, get a score of 100, again see what it says on the left side of display

 

So do some trips around the block with some sampling and see how much the numbers can vary.

Edited June 11, 2013 by jeff_h

[Fastronaut]

Braking too late and too hard... take a drive around your neighborhood or somewhere that you can sample this where nobody will be behind you. Numbers below are just approximate.

 

1) See stop sign up ahead going about 30 mph, drive you most people drive and wait until 30 yards before the sign and hit the brakes, get a score of about 70, which should show on your left side once you complete the stop.

 

2) Go back around the same route and do the same thing but let of the gas at twice the distance and lightly ride the regen brakes (normal brake pedal, but very lightly) and gently slow down nice and smoothly to stop right at the sign, get a score of 100, again see what it says on the left side of display

 

So do some trips around the block with some sampling and see how much the numbers can vary.

As Jeff said, the trick is LIGHTLY touching the brake pedal for an extended period.

[thavil]

Jeff is spot on. Give this a try and you will see an enormous difference in your brake score. A result of a good brake score will be increased MPG. Both my wife and I practice good braking procedures and we both get between 49-51 MPG in our mixed driving commute of 27 miles one way.

[B25Nut]

Braking is an art. Even the last three feet are important. Let off brake pressure at the end so it doesn't jerk to a stop. A cup full of water shouldn't lose a drop as you stop.

[hybridbear]

When you're driving in a residential area toward a stop sign it's good to let off the gas more than half a block before the stop sign and then start applying the brakes at least 1/3 of a block before the stop sign. I don't know how long the city blocks are in Texas but that works well with the length of our city blocks here

[clummus]

thanks guys! I am going to practice hybrid friendly braking today and see how that changes my mpg numbers.:)

[acdii]

Going downhill at 55 MPH is the Trickiest braking I have yet had in these. It takes a lot of practice and learning the point at which the service brakes come on, once they apply, kiss the brake score goodbye. What would have been nice on that brake display is a threshold, how much regen braking you can apply before the service brakes come on. I find that just wiggling your big toe can affect the braking too.

[kuzzi]

I had to liken using the regen brake to driving a Tanker truck. ~3500 gallons of water takes a LOT of foresight to control on public roadways. There's an overpass here that when going downhill with the Jakebrake ON, the rpms actually increase and we pretty much have to jam the service brakes in order to not run the intersection at the bottom (one of the most dangerous in the area for that reason btw).

 

Soft and steady brake application with a long application duration is the best way to stop a 15 ton truck and coincidentally the hybrid as well.

[rjent]

Yeah, but not everyone has a foot the size of yours ..... :)

Going downhill at 55 MPH is the Trickiest braking I have yet had in these. It takes a lot of practice and learning the point at which the service brakes come on, once they apply, kiss the brake score goodbye. What would have been nice on that brake display is a threshold, how much regen braking you can apply before the service brakes come on. I find that just wiggling your big toe can affect the braking too.

[rjent]

It isn't that hard, just pay attention. My wife can get 100 percent scores 90 percent of the time now. It is an adjustment in how you drive. The learning curve at first can be pretty steep for some people, but just practicing the techniques that are being taught here and you will have it in no time ....

 

thanks guys! I am going to practice hybrid friendly braking today and see how that changes my mpg numbers. :)

Edited June 12, 2013 by rjent

[hermans]

It isn't that hard, just pay attention. My wife can get 100 percent scores 90 percent of the time now. It is an adjustment in how you drive. The learning curve at first can be pretty steep for some people, but just practicing the techniques that are being taught here and you will have it in no time ....

 

When we met back in the 70s my wife was a true stoplight racer. She had a really nice Mustang Fastback. Fast forward to today and she gets better mileage and brake scores than I do.

[acdii]

Yeah, but not everyone has a foot the size of yours ..... :)

Thats what she said!

[rjent]

Thats what she said!

Foot size is a myth .... I am living proof ..... :)

[acdii]

[Hyabrid]

Notice that if you are coming down hill, you can hold down the cruise (down button) and the brakes will regenerate as well - I have active cruise so not sure if its the same on all -

[acdii]

Notice that if you are coming down hill, you can hold down the cruise (down button) and the brakes will regenerate as well - I have active cruise so not sure if its the same on all -

Actually in the past years, not sure when they started to do it, on the normal cruise if you do that the trans will downshift to slow you down, instead of the old school coasting. The cruise has been more integrated with the entire drivetrain instead of just the old throttle control of years past.

[majorleeslow]

I've started taking lots of notes and pics from the trip and Lifetime summaries. wish they had a last trip to the current on same screen. But my observation so far is that you can have over 50 mpg with bad brake score. if you make it up with higher ev miles ratio. sometimes I can back off during ice charging on lower speeds to get better mpg with ice ( above 30).